


Photographs and memories

by lasairfhiona



Series: Fiona Saga [17]
Category: Highlander: The Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 13:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fiona makes a new life for herself after Joe</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photographs and memories

Christmas Eve 2042 Interlaken Switzerland

She stood at the window watching the snow fall. It wasn't heavy wet snow, or even blizzard snow. It was light fluffy snow that made it fun to shake off branches onto people and watch swirl around in the wind. But Fiona wasn't into pulling snow pranks or really even into the holidays she was in the midst of. She had never felt more alone than she did at this moment. Joe had died two months ago and she'd run as far and as fast as she could. Run from the memories of the place where they'd made their life. She'd run from the friends who meant well but would fuss over her nevertheless. She couldn't handle their looks of pity and the worried glances wondering what she was going to do next. She couldn't handle their grief and deal with her own. There were too many memories.

She'd wound up in this place by chance; almost having forgotten about its existence. It had been 20 years or more since she'd been here. She and Joe had ended up here by accident the first time and would occasionally disappear for a long weekend together without anyone knowing where they were. It was either fate or chance or both that she'd boarded the wrong train in Zurich.

She looked away from the window and back toward the one room cabin she was living in, smiling weakly. Gretchen had befriended her almost from the moment she'd gotten off the train; pushing her way past all of Fiona's walls, with the claim that they should stick together since they were both widows. She had made sure that Fiona had at least a little of the holiday spirit in her home. And out of respect to Fiona's Druid background, there wasn't one Kris Kringle anywhere to be seen.

The smallish tree in the corner twinkled with blue, green and white lights. Pine and Holly bows trimmed the doorways, window sills and the fire place mantel. Tall pillar candles were mixed in among the pine on the mantle and arranged in the center of the coffee table were candles of all shapes and sizes. The scent of vanilla and beeswax mixed with the smell from the pine.

Fiona turned back toward the window and the falling snow; away from the warmth her home projected. The cold snow was more fitting for how she felt. Despite Gretchen's best intentions of helping her celebrate both Yule and Christmas, Fiona wasn't sure if the light would return any time soon to her heart. She felt as cold as the weather.

She continued to watch as the lights in the city came on, turning it into a colorful glow. She knew that the skiers would soon begin their decent down the hills with their torches creating a ribbon of light down the mountain slopes.

Finally turning away from the window, she went to put a kettle on for tea and puttered around the kitchen area while she waited for the pot to boil. She put away the dry dishes from lunch, and made herself a cold meat sandwich from the roast she'd made the day before. The kettle had just started to whistle when there was a knock at the door.

"Coming," she called as she turned the burner off and removed the kettle.

Fiona crossed the small room and pulled open the door fully expecting it to be Gretchen coming to drag her into town for the festivities. She was totally floored when she saw who accompanied her friend.

"Fiona! Surprise!"

Fiona found herself engulfed in an embrace with the two people Gretchen had brought with her. She found her voice after they released her, but only barely. "Amy. Michael. How? What?" she sputtered out, as she looked into two sets of grey eyes that were so much like the ones she'd looked into for forty plus years.

"I guess I'm to blame," Gretchen piped up. "I decided that you needed your family so I snooped and came up with Amy and Michael."

"Look at you. You cut your hair," Amy commented as she reached out and fingered Fiona's now shoulder length hair.

"I cut it after I left Ireland." Fiona told her. She had known it would be a shock to anyone who knew her since she rarely did more than trim it.

"You look great," Michael told her as he hugged her again. Gretchen looked from the man to the photo prominently displayed on the mantle. They could have been brothers for as much as they looked alike.

"Gretch..." Fiona tried to reprimand, but she couldn't stay mad at her friend. As much as it would hurt to have Amy and Michael here, especially Michael since he looked so much like his grandfather, it also helped.

She moved them further into her home and stood with Gretchen's arm around her as Amy and Michael appraised her home. The wide, comfortable cream colored sofa filled with blue and green cushions sat in front of a large stone fireplace. A single lamp stood on a wrought iron stand at one end where a book lay open on the armrest, face down and waiting for its reader to return. Across the room a large bed made from logs sat covered with a down comforter in blues and greens again. It was positioned so that you could lie in bed and watch the fire or look out the nearby window. The small kitchen with its island counter space and diner like table was at the back of the house.

Several photographs of Joe were scattered around. Most were older ones; Joe in a tux with Fiona in a black gown from a New Years Eve party. Another one of Joe holding Michael as a baby. An amusing one of Joe, Methos, Duncan and Richie holding each others up after a night of drinking to much. And the one on her night table was one of her and Joe leaning against a giant Oak tree. It had been taken in Cashel at the grove where she'd met Methos. A tourist had offered to take the photo of them.

Amy turned around and looked at Fiona, "This is where you and Dad used to come on your 'get aways' wasn't it?" She'd recognized it from the stories Fiona and Joe had told the kids as they were growing up.

"Yeah... I remember..." Michael started to say, but cut himself off when he caught a puzzled look Gretchen had on her face.

Fiona just nodded, it had been at least twenty years since she and Joe had been here. She couldn't say that out loud though.

"I'm going to go and leave you to your evening." Gretchen tried to leave.

"No!" all three of them said almost in unison.

Gretchen stopped and looked at the three of them, "Okay, I'll stay, I know when I'm out numbered."

Fiona pulled her into a hug and whispered, "Thank you."

A whimper from outside caught their attention and suddenly three people were trying to get out the door. "Oh we almost forgot." Michael exclaimed as he beat the other two out. He came back in carrying a wiggling black ball of fur that was covered in snow.

"For you," he said as he shoved his load into Fiona's arms.

"A puppy?"

"We figured you needed someone to keep you company," Michael explained.

Fiona tried to protest but the puppy in her arms wouldn't let her change her mind. It began to lick her face, sending her into a fit of the giggles.

Michael came over "it's good to hear you laugh," he told her as he began to pet the puppy. "Her name is Raven and she's a Bernese Mountain Dog."

Once suitcases were brought in and everyone, including the pup, were settled with tea and sandwiches they started to tell carefully edited stories of Fiona and Joe and things they'd all done together. Michael told about how he and Fiona used to scare Joe with their wild races across the peninsula.

Amy laughed, "Yeah, he was always sure that one or both of you would fall and kill yourself."

Fiona ended up pulling out a photo album with a picture Joe had taken of her and Michael after one of their hell-bent-for-leather rides. The album stayed out to show pictures to emphasis a story. Fiona had put together two albums of her favorite pictures of friends and family. She knew Gretchen had noticed Joe's obvious aging in the pictures. They could easily get away with ten years and no questions. Some of the pictures obviously spanned more than ten years.

When the evening drew to a close, Gretchen excused herself and Michael offered to walk her home and take the puppy for a final walk before bedtime.

Amy was the first to get ready for bed and as she came out of the bathroom she found Fiona sitting in the bay window, staring at the falling snow with a picture of Joe hugged to her chest. "Fee? Are you okay?" she asked using her father's nickname for his partner.

"Yes. No. I don't know." Fiona answered quietly, wiping a tear as it rolled down her cheek. "I just miss him so much."

"I know, so do I." Amy answered as she stood behind Fiona, with her hand on the immortal woman's shoulder. She'd gotten over the anger she'd held against Joe for not telling her about being her father. Fiona had helped them, her gently nudging and the fact she was relentless about making sure they got together helped to mend the bridges. The final piece from the tattered father/daughter relationship came at Michael's birth, when Amy saw Joe cry at the birth of his grandson.

"Oh gods Amy, it's so hard. And Michael, he looks and sounds so much like Joe..." she didn't have to continue Amy would understand the unspoken words, "And even still I'm glad he's here, it wouldn't be right without him."

"Matthew wanted to come too but with his wife due so soon he couldn't risk leaving her." Amy said about her younger son, and then she changed the subject, "Are you going to tell Gretchen about you?"

"Yeah, I think I am. I might have to anyway after tonight, she's going to have some questions I can't ignore. She was just being polite tonight by not asking, but she will." Fiona half laughed, "You know, she'd make a good recruit."

Amy grinned, "Maybe. Speaking of telling people things. Are you going to tell a few certain Immortals where you are?" she asked judging by the phone calls she fielded on a regular basis that they didn't know about this place.

Fiona stood and started to fuss with getting blankets and pillows ready to make the sofa up for Michael. "No, I don't think so. Amy, I can't handle their grief and my own. Besides they would all fuss to much especially a certain married couple." Fiona shook out the blanket and let it fall into place on the sofa. Methos especially would fuss, he knew her to well, he knew she'd embrace her grief and wear it like a comfortable old coat. It was her way of protecting herself and wouldn't lay it aside until she felt was ready to feel again. No, she needed to make a clean break for awhile. "Amy," Fiona started as she plumped the pillow into place, "Can I ask you not to tell them either?"

Amy scowled for a minute, that would be a lot to ask, the eldest Immortal had told her of the promise he'd made her father to look out after Fiona and his family. "Will you at least keep in touch with me and Michael?" she asked as she crawled into one side of the large bed she was going to share with Fiona.

"I promise. Besides, Joe would haunt me if I didn't keep an eye on his family."

Amy laughed, "I imagine he would at that. Are you coming to bed?"

"No, go ahead. I'll just wait for Michael to get back." She said as she went to sit in the big chair near the window.

"He's all grown up now, Fiona." Amy reminded her.

"I know. But there will always be a part of him that will be that beautiful little boy your father and I help to deliver." Fiona smiled, remembering Michael's unexpected arrival.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that." Amy chuckled before she nodded off to sleep.

Fiona sat near the window and watched the snow while she waited. She knew the circumstance of Michael's birth was only part of the reason why she was so attached to him. He'd spent summers and holidays with her and Joe and he was as close to a child that she and Joe would ever have.

>

Michael returned several hours later to find Fiona curled up, sound asleep, in her overstuffed chair. Standing next to her, he leaned down and brushed an errant lock of hair away from her face. He could see why his grandfather had fallen in love with her. Hell if the truth be told he'd spent his teenage years in love with her too. Now as an adult, and only ten years younger than Joe had been when he'd met Fiona, he understood their love.

He knew it would be a very long time before she would let herself love again, his grandfather had been her world. He had often wondered what it had been like for them with her never growing old. He'd asked her once, she answered with one word-- "heartbreaking". He was 16 at the time and didn't fully understand its meaning, he did now. He saw her world shatter when Joe died.

He wanted to make it all right for her, to find some magic spell that would help her stop hurting so much. Methos had warned him she'd be like this after Joe died. He'd advised Michael that no matter what resistance she put up, or how far she tried to run, to not let her go and be alone. He'd have to remember to thank the eldest Immortal next time he saw him.

Michael picked her up and carried her to bed. As he tucked her in and watched as the pup curled up behind her knees, he heard her whisper "Joe" in her sleep.

FINIS


End file.
